Grounded in geology
PhD student Renato Lima de Oliveira examines how a country's natural resources affect its politics and policies.
“This work has allowed me to see most of the world”
Geologist Oliver Jagoutz scales mountains to gain tectonic insights.
Twin wins for planetary exploration
MIT scientists and alumni well represented on newly announced NASA asteroid missions Psyche and Lucy.
Saharan dust in the wind
Scientists find huge reduction in African dust plume led to stronger Saharan monsoons 11,000 years ago.
Pluto’s icy, slushy heart
Data from New Horizons mission suggest a water-ice ocean lies beneath Pluto’s heart-shaped basin.
Big ice, big science
Richard Alley delivers 2016 Carlson Lecture on the physics of glaciers and how ice sheets capture a history of the world’s climate.
Retracing the origins of a massive, multi-ring crater
Scientists reconstruct first hours after a giant impact created one of the largest craters on the moon.
2014 Napa earthquake continued to creep, weeks after main shock
Continuing seismic activity could pose additional hazards to infrastructure.
New technique may help detect Martian life
A novel interpretation of Raman spectra will help the 2020 Mars rover select rocks to study for signs of life.
Study pinpoints timing of oxygen’s first appearance in Earth’s atmosphere
Beginning 2.33 billion years ago, atmospheric oxygen built up in just 10 million years.
Study: Ancient tectonic activity was trigger for ice ages
Continental shifting may have acted as a natural mechanism for extreme carbon sequestration.
Tracing the evolution of a landscape
Geologist Taylor Perron explores river networks on Earth and beyond.
India drift
MIT researchers explain mystery of India’s rapid move toward Eurasia 80 million years ago.
What really killed the dinosaurs?
Before an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, Earth experienced a short burst of intense volcanism.
Peter Molnar takes down a popular scientific theory at the 2014 John Carlson Lecture
University of Colorado at Boulder professor presented “Big Cats, Panamá, and Armadillos: A Story of Climate and Life” at the New England Aquarium.